An Israeli soldier captured a year ago by militants from Gaza asked for medical treatment and urged Israel to release Palestinian prisoners in an audio tape posted on the Internet on Monday.
Except for a hand-written letter to his parents in September, there had been no sign of life from Gilad Shalit since the tank gunner was spirited into the Gaza Strip by gunmen who tunnelled across the border into Israel on June 25, 2006.
"I have been in prison for an entire year and my health is deteriorating. I need lengthy hospitalisation," Shalit, speaking in Hebrew, said on the tape. "I regret the lack of interest of the Israeli government and military in my case and their failure to meet the demands."
The audio message was released hours before a summit in Egypt between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a rival of the Hamas who took control of the Gaza Strip in factional fighting this month.
Shalit's father Noam said he was "almost sure" the voice on the tape was that of his son, a conscript now aged 20. He was promoted to sergeant from corporal while in captivity.
"We cannot know when it was recorded," Noam Shalit said. An aide to Olmert said there was no doubt Hamas had dictated the text that was read on the tape.
Hamas, one of three militant groups that claimed responsibility for the joint operation in which Shalit was seized, had said it would release the tape to mark the first anniversary of his capture.
On the tape, Shalit called on Israel to make a deal for his release: "Just as I have parents, a mother and father, thousands of Palestinian detainees have mothers and fathers whose sons must be returned to them," the voice said. Negotiations brokered by Egypt have been suspended in recent months amid Palestinian internal fighting in the Gaza Strip and Israeli-Palestinian violence.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.